Monthly Archives: January 2015

For the last couple weeks, we’ve been sharing our favorites from the garden in 2014. Now it’s time for Number 1!

WATERMELON

Hands down. Seedless, Jubilee, Crimson Sweet. Derek and I both agree no other produce from the garden could compete with these. I know watermelon as a fruit is supposed to be an healthy option, but I’m pretty sure I gained at least 10lbs in watermelon over September. Usually by the end of the season, we’re pretty tired of produce. Not watermelon, though. We were sad to see it go. And we’ll be even more happy to see it next year. Derek is planning to expand the patch quite a bit in 2015, and maybe we’ll even try some new flavors. (We’ve both talked about the yellow and orange.)

We eat our own produce. And love it. We can’t lie. I like to tell Derek that even if all he did was grow fresh produce for our family, I would be a very happy woman.

In our last post, we began sharing our favorite vegetables from 2014. Carrots took 3rd place. Now for 2nd place. . .

GREEN BEANS

These came in bunches. In hordes! IN DROVES! So many that we eventually gave up trying to preserve them all. (I hear that happens a lot when you grow green beans. They’re so abundant, even the gardeners give up!)

It was a very good thing, though. We still eat green beans at least once a week, and love it. Green beans were actually Derek’s turning point. Before these green beans, Derek did not enjoy vegetables. After these green beans, he can’t get enough and has discovered that he loves vegetables all along. (Crazy what a green bean can do, huh?)

Do you have a “turning point” vegetable – a vegetable that made you realize you love them after all and never knew it?

We don’t just grow produce to sell and share with you. We also grow it to eat for ourself! You won’t see anything on our stands that we ourselves won’t take home, cook, and devour. With that in mind, we wanted to share with you our top 3 favorite from the garden last year.

At 3rd place is. . .

CARROTS

This one I did not expect. I’d grown carrots once before Derek and I were married. The pot was too small, the soil kinda clay-ish, and over used. The carrots ended up tasting mostly like soap. Eh. I consigned to the fact that maybe this is what real carrots taste like.

Not so with these babies! Derek and I chopped one up to taste right after harvesting the first round. We both looked at each other in surprise. Sweet, crunchy, a flavor far more vibrant that the store bought kinds, yet not being soapy tasting. Needless to say that didn’t make it past dinner time to the market.

In fact, I’m not sure any of them made it to the Noelridge market last year at all. In 2015 Derek is determined to expand his carrot rows. I’m definitely looking forward to some fresh carrot salads this summer, God willing they grow well again.